Musical instrument



(No Model.)

W. E. BENT. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 516,427. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

m T m. V N

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM E. DENT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICAIIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,427, dated March13, 1894. Application filed March 27, 1893. Serial No. 467,885. (Nomodal.)

.T0 aZZ w120m z'z5 may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. BENT, of Chicago, in the county of 000kand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inMusical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exactdescmption.

My invention relatesto au improvementin musical instruments, andespecially to an im provement in stringed monoohord instruments. Theobject of the invention is to provide an instrument et the banjo type,in which asingle string only is employed, the said string be1ng solocated upon the instrument that it may be operated upon by a bow.

A further object of the invention is to provide au instrument simple inits construction and of a pecnliar type, upon which an air andvariations of any kind may be played, and whereby when the instrument isplayed its toue Will correspond to the combined tones obtained from abanjo or llke instrument, and a violin.

Theinvention consistsin thenovel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as Will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out inthe claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures and letters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the wews.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the instrument; and Fig. 2 is avertical section through the body portion thereof.

The instrument may be said to consist primarily of a neck or fingerboard A and a body B. The body consists of a hoop or baud 10 of wood,metal, or any approved material, upon the top of which a skin head 11,is se cured bymeans of clamps 12 of any appr0ved construction, theclamps engaging with a binding ring 13 which presses clownward upon thehead, and the said clamps are also connected with the body baud 10.Below the head, within the body, a sounding board 14, is horizontallysecured, being in engagement at its margin with the inner surface of thebody band, as is best shown in Fig. 2. The finger board or neck A, maybe of any approved construction and maybe made of any desii*ed material.Tire fiuger board or neck may beof any length that in practioe may befouud znost desirable, but preferably the finger board is such as iscommonly used upon banjos, and the portion of the finger boarddesignated as a, is made to extend over the head out of engagementtherewith, while a back bar a, is made to pass entirely through the bodyat its conter, the said bar a, projecting beyoud the rear of the body,as shown best in Fig. 1; and the rearend of the extension bar a of theneck, is secured in anysuitable or approved manner to the cross bar 15,the said cross bar being horzontallylocated, and the cross bar isadapted to be placed upon the knees or in the lap of the operator, ormay be made to rest upon any convenient support. A tail piece 16, isalso provided, the said tail piece being ordinarily secured to the outeror projecting end of the extension bar of the finger board. A bridge 17,is also used, and this bridge is made to rest open a shell plate 18, theshell used being usually tortoise shell, and the shell is made to restupon a metal plate 19, said plate being ordinarily made of aluminnm, thealuminum plate resting directly upon the head. The employment of theshell and aluminum plates between the bridge and head, softens andmodifies the vibration of the string and at the same time augments thepower of vibration et the said string.

The finger board or neck is provided with a single key 20, as but onestring 21, is used upon the instrument, and this string entends from thekey over the bridge and is secured to the tail piece 16.

The instrument is adapted to be played by means of a bon.

Upon au instrument constructed as above set forth any melody or piece ofmusic can be performed, it being understood that only the melody or airof a piece of music With Variations can be produced.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. A musical instrument, the same consistingof a finger board or neck, a body connected With the finger board orneck, the body be ingprovided With a skin head and a sounding boardbelow the head, a single string extenda metal plate interposed betweenthe head ndthe bridge, as and for the purpose set 3. In a musicalinstrument, the combina- 15 tion with the body portion, of a neck havingan extension extending through the body, and a cross bar secured to thesaid extension, substantially as described.

4. In a musical instrument, the combina- 2o .tion with the body neck andstring, of a bridge, a shell plate upon which the bridge tests, and ametal plate upon which the shell platerests, substantially as described.

WILLIAM E. BENT. Witnesses:

A. A. CABLE, W. G. PURDY.

